


You Fanned the Flames Up Higher

by Independence1776



Series: Reckless [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Falling In Love, Fluff, Multi, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 20:51:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11608704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Independence1776/pseuds/Independence1776
Summary: Five conversations Loki has during the three-month gap in “You Met Me in the Fire” and one he has after.





	You Fanned the Flames Up Higher

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from Martina McBride’s “Reckless.”

Natasha leaned against the doorway after showing Loki to the guest room. “You said you researched us. How? Most of that information is classified or deeply buried.”

Loki looked over from hanging his other suit in the small closet. He had very little to unpack, but he needed to make the effort to feel like he was at least in some way a part of this household, however temporarily. “Your computer systems are primitive. It was a trivial matter to find the information I needed.”

She hummed and said, “Could you teach me?”

Loki shook his head. “Magic lets me take shortcuts.”

“Pity. I could use a few more tricks in my repertoire.” She sauntered away and Loki gestured shut the door. He leaned his head against the wooden slats of the closet door. Tricks. _Again_ \-- but the positive connotation she’d thrown on the word was… different.

 

*****

 

Clint thumped a paperback book down on the table in front of him. “If you want to start understanding humans--”

 “Who says I do?” Loki said absently, already reaching for the book.

 Clint snorted. “It’s obvious. You’ve gone through the nonfiction bookcase in a month; I should take you to the library. That ID card Director Fury had made for you would be enough to get you a library card.”

 Loki twisted his lips. He’d met the man twice: once to explain exactly what happened in Puente Antiguo and another to receive the ID. Fury reminded him far too much of Natasha: both of them penetrating and hiding their feelings under various types of masks. (He didn’t want to think about the similarities between Fury and Odin.) The difference was that he was sure Natasha liked him. They’d stayed up-- with Clint-- talking politics and current affairs more times than Loki cared to count. “Reading is necessary: I cannot blend in if I do not have this information. Having a so-called British accent only goes so far in explaining my oddities.”

“Still means you shouldn’t avoid fiction. They may start off as kids’ books, but the series is pretty decent and really dark in places. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

Loki looked at the brightly colored cover of a black-haired boy riding a broomstick and raised an eyebrow. “I will attempt this. But I make no promises.”

 

*****

 

Loki stared down at the man in the prison uniform sleeping on the lower bunk of a bunk bed. He shifted into wolf form and howled. The man started awake, sitting up and looking wildly around before freezing when he spotted Loki. Loki showed teeth before shifting back to his normal body. He wore a suit and a houndstooth scarf: modern humans would see his armor as farcical in some circumstances and he suspected this would be one of them. “You shouldn’t shoot wolves. Not all of them are actually wolves.”

“I’m dreaming. I have to be.”

“Hardly,” Loki drawled. “You are perfectly wide awake. Only no one can hear you and no one will see or hear me.” He walked closer, silently casting a spell, and the man cringed, his back pressed against the concrete block wall. “You thought you shot a wolf. You were mistaken. Your house has been destroyed. Your life is in ruins. Your only refuge is dreams and those will no longer be such.” He took a step back, preparing to leave, wearing a feral grin. “Enjoy your rest.”

Loki teleported back to the apartment and slept happily for the couple hours remaining until dawn. When he shuffled into the kitchen the next morning, Natasha leaned against the counter, sipping a mug of coffee and waiting for the toaster to finish. She eyed him. “Did you have a good night?”

Loki smiled and reached for his usual mug. “I rather did.”

 

*****

 

Loki didn’t move. He could always return home-- no, not home-- without disturbing anything here. He could leave without anyone knowing he had left, without anyone knowing what he was here for.

But there was a book he had been in the middle of, some trinkets he missed, a charm he wanted to give to Clint, the set of throwing knives Mother-- Frigga-- Mother had given him upon his coming of age, and a small landscape-of-Asgard tapestry he wanted to hang on the wall in his bedroom. All of them were here.

He took one step forward and then another. Nothing happened: no alarm, no ward alerting anyone, no guards. His chambers were as he had left them. No one would bother him.

It was the work of brief minutes to collect everything, though he’d had to use magic to remove the tapestry from above his bed. He turned around for one last look at Asgard through his window and stopped at the sight of Frigga standing in the doorway, one hand covering her mouth.

He wanted to scream at her and to curl up in her lap begging her forgiveness. He took one step back, mindful of the bedside table piled high with books he never had the chance to read, and said, “I’m sorry.”

He teleported away, to the opening of a path to Midgard, and went back to the apartment. Once there, he sat down on the floor, leaning against his bed, and stared off into the distance, trying not to feel anything and failing.

 

*****

 

Loki stared down at his remaining card, not really seeing it. He had returned to Asgard yesterday, having avoided it for over two weeks, intending to stay only long enough to return the book and then never return. He’d found three new-to-him books placed prominently on his desk, two of them tomes of magic and the last a history of the universe beyond the Nine Realms. Frigga had not left a note with them, but he knew they were from her anyway. She had been close enough to him to know when to give him space.

He both loved and hated that.

“Loki?” Natasha said.

“Mmm…” he said, forcing his attention back to the Uno game. Clint had already won; Natasha and he were dueling for second place.

She laid on the drawn stack a blue Draw Two and a yellow Draw Two. “Uno,” she said, her eyes sparkling in glee, as she put down her final card: a Draw Four Wild. “Green.”

Loki stared at the cards and then lifted his eyes, ignoring Clint whooping with laughter. He wanted nothing more in this moment than to kiss her, to kiss them.

 

*****

 

He woke up to early morning sunlight shining into his eyes. He used magic to reorient the blinds, not wanting to move from between Clint and Natasha, the latter of whom had a hand draped over his waist. He had half-convinced himself that neither one was interested in him. He’d seen the glances, heard the slight voice shifts-- but could not understand why they would truly want him. They knew everything he had done and were appalled by some of it. But they kept their home open to him regardless.

But he was still raised with manners and would not impose on their hospitality that way, no matter how much he desired them. Leaving had not been an option. He had nowhere else to turn: the entire universe was not enough when there was nothing he desired there. Only Midgard-- only _Earth_ \-- had that. He tried not to think of the irony of both princes of Asgard falling in love with mortals; it hurt too much for a multitude of reasons.

But now? Last night, they had welcomed him into their bed. It was a change he hadn’t anticipated.

Natasha opened her eyes. “Good morning, Loki.” He smiled back and she moved her hand lower. “Interested?”

“ _Yes_.”


End file.
